Calgary Roads

[J-D]

Originally Posted by DoubleK

Open Houses for McLeod Trail/162nd Ave Interchange are tonight and Saturday.

This almost seems a little weird to me:

• 162 Avenue is a primary access point for pedestrians across Macleod Trail. Review of aerial photography shows no fewer than 10 demand lines worn into the grass from adjacent development sites to the intersection. This suggests that a significant pedestrian demand is currently unaddressed.
• 162 Avenue is part of the City’s Primary Cycling Network, providing a cross-town connection between southwest residential communities and the Fish Creek / Bow River pathway networks. High quality cycling access needs to be provided across Macleod Trail, which is safe and comfortable for users of all abilities.

​

It's as if for pedestrians the attitude is to wait for significant pedestrian demand to build infrastructure, but for cycle infrastructure it's very much an "if we build it, they will come" attitude.

[craner]

Originally Posted by DoubleK

Open Houses for McLeod Trail/162nd Ave Interchange are tonight and Saturday.

Did anybody attend one of the 162 /MacLeod open hoses and can report ?

[Mazrim]

Originally Posted by craner

Did anybody attend one of the 162 /MacLeod open hoses and can report ?

I was there on Friday and it was well attended. I can't comment much on the content as I was involved in making the boards, but there was a constant group of people around the Stoney Trail board as it seemed to be a bigger concern than the interchange itself.

As a regular user of the area, I put a comment form in saying the Diverging Diamond should be used because it's awesome. The overall reaction of the general public to the Diverging Diamond was mixed. Some said it was too out there for Calgary, and some said it looked great!

The open house boards can be downloaded from the City's website now:
http://www.calgary.ca/Transportation...terchange.aspx

[Innersoul1]

I noticed over the past 3 weeks that on the main streets in Montgomery they have installed the historic black and white street signs. how many other neighbourhoods are like this?

[speedog]

Originally Posted by J-D

It's as if for pedestrians the attitude is to wait for significant pedestrian demand to build infrastructure, but for cycle infrastructure it's very much an "if we build it, they will come" attitude.

Interesting, I didn't come to the same conclusion from what you quoted.

[Bri-Guy]

Originally Posted by craner

Did anybody attend one of the 162 /MacLeod open hoses and can report ?

Originally Posted by Mazrim

As a regular user of the area, I put a comment form in saying the Diverging Diamond should be used because it's awesome. The overall reaction of the general public to the Diverging Diamond was mixed. Some said it was too out there for Calgary, and some said it looked great!

The open house boards can be downloaded from the City's website now:
http://www.calgary.ca/Transportation...terchange.aspx

I thought that it was interesting how many options they supplied, though really it will come down to probably 2 or 3 that will be truly considered. The Parclo AB was the previously preferred, and could potentially be implemented, though I thought that the fact that the diverging diamond treats traffic in an unbiased manner (rather than only favouring traffic heading to or from the North)- which might be wise to consider for the potential for additional developments that would be destinations to the south - or to Seton to some degree.

With the 6th Street access from 22X being removed as well as the Right out access to MacLeod from the Superstore/theatre parking lot - this intersection will definitely be seeing a lot more traffic flowing through it in the future - not really a good thing for the network in the Shawnessy shopping area, that is already poor often times.

[CalgaryLankan]

The Stoney Trail, right-in and right-out exit/entry to 14th Street NW will be open to traffic this weekend. This will ease traffic issue for many people in Evanston.

[tmjr]

Plan to redesign Barlow Trail, 16th Avenue interchange passes vote (CBC News - 5Nov2014)

A council committee has approved a long-term plan to reconfigure the often congested cloverleaf on 16th Avenue at Barlow Trail in the city’s northeast.

The project, which also includes a new interchange at 19th Street and a third bridge over Deerfoot Trail, is pegged to cost $200 million.

[J-D]

Originally Posted by tmjr

Plan to redesign Barlow Trail, 16th Avenue interchange passes vote (CBC News - 5Nov2014)

I'm pretty sure I could think of a better use for $200 million, but I'd always be biased towards infrastructure that I use on a daily basis.

[suburbia]

Originally Posted by CalgaryLankan

The Stoney Trail, right-in and right-out exit/entry to 14th Street NW will be open to traffic this weekend. This will ease traffic issue for many people in Evanston.

So by this I'm assuming you mean the north side of Stoney. I hadn't noticed them working on it, but will try to take a peak. When will they put the bridge in?

[fusili]

Originally Posted by tmjr

Plan to redesign Barlow Trail, 16th Avenue interchange passes vote (CBC News - 5Nov2014)

Another complete neglect of the Route Ahead plan. They have a BRT going along 16th avenue here. Not saying they need to build transit lanes now, but shouldn't they at least show space for future dedicated transit lanes.

[Ferreth]

Originally Posted by J-D

I'm pretty sure I could think of a better use for $200 million, but I'd always be biased towards infrastructure that I use on a daily basis.

I do use Barlow/16th/19th St, and I question why this should be built in the next 10 years; I could see in the next 20, but to build it in the next 10 years means bumping something else down the list. OTOH, if the Deerfoot improvements and 16th/68th all are getting built in the same time frame, perhaps this is more justified as 16th will serve as a shunting point between the Ring Road and Deerfoot.

[You Need A Thneed]

I think it's hilarious that the article talks about "congested Barlow/16th", and presents 19th Street and Deerfoot Trail as secondary.

redoing Barlow/16th is ONLY necessary in the scenario because of the 19th Street interchange. Right now, Barlow/16th is pretty much never a problem.

[craner]

^Yes you're right about that YNAT

Well I for one and happy about this.
In my dreamland I would love to see a signature bridge taking 16th Ave over the Deerfoot valley - bank to bank. Something really spectacular when viewed from Deerfoot.

[CalgaryLankan]

Originally Posted by suburbia

So by this I'm assuming you mean the north side of Stoney. I hadn't noticed them working on it, but will try to take a peak. When will they put the bridge in?

Yes - correct, it is north side of Stoney with access to Evanston. The bridge may come in few years later. At least this will ease some traffic issues on Symons Vally Rd during morning rush hour.

[DizzyEdge]

This is probably a question for Malcolm Tucker, since he tends to have these sorts of stats:

Can anyone provide the stats as far as 1) gasoline tax collected in AB 2) amount returned to the province and cities earmarked for road work 3) the amount returned to the province and cities earmarked for non-road work 4) the cost of roadwork in AB.

Asking due to the often heard refrain that gas taxes should be more than paying for all road building and maintenance.

Thanks

[93JC]

Originally Posted by DizzyEdge

This is probably a question for Malcolm Tucker, since he tends to have these sorts of stats:

Can anyone provide the stats as far as 1) gasoline tax collected in AB 2) amount returned to the province and cities earmarked for road work 3) the amount returned to the province and cities earmarked for non-road work 4) the cost of roadwork in AB.

Asking due to the often heard refrain that gas taxes should be more than paying for all road building and maintenance.

Thanks

I can't give you all the answers you're looking for but I give you a head start.

2013-2016 capital plan: http://www.finance.alberta.ca/public...pital-plan.pdf
See page 67 (p. 9 of the PDF).

"About $3.4 billion over three years will be provided for the provincial highway network and other provincial transportation infrastructure."

$3.4 billion / 3 years = $1.133 billion per year

2014-15 first quarter fiscal update: http://finance.alberta.ca/publicatio...cal-Update.pdf
Refer to page 6 of the PDF.

Fuel tax for 2014-15 is forecast to bring in $965 million in revenue. (Actual 2013-14 revenue was $925 million.)



Fuel tax revenue: $965 million
Roads costs: $1,133 million
Cost shortfall = $168 million

That's the total fuel tax revenues compared to just the cost of provincial roadwork; that doesn't include the money granted to municipalities for roadwork.

[DizzyEdge]

Isn't a portion of the fuel tax earmarked for transit and other types of projects? For some reason I thought that was the case.

[North_Regina_Boy]

I am liking the updated Glenmore Ogden Rd plans. It shows the future (hopefully soon future) of building the overpass at Barlow Trail, and getting Glenmore to a complete E-W limited access freeway.

Just two more hurtles past Barlow Trail. 52nd and the flyovers at Stoney Trail SE, as I expect 68th won't have access to Glenmore when that happens.

[93JC]

Originally Posted by DizzyEdge

Isn't a portion of the fuel tax earmarked for transit and other types of projects? For some reason I thought that was the case.

A portion of fuel tax revenue is earmarked for transit and other types of transportation infrastructure projects insofar as the government of the day decides "We're bringing in about $X from fuel taxes, so let's spend Y% of $X on transit and other stuff."

Fuel tax revenue doesn't get put into a special fund or anything like that (whereas, for example, revenue from VLTs goes into the Alberta Lottery Fund), it's just general revenue. It's not different than income taxes in that respect.

Ultimately it doesn't really matter because no one revenue stream covers any one operating expense in its entirety. We spend more on roadworks than we make from fuel taxes. We spend more on public transit than we make from fares. Everything in this province is subsidized with money from income taxes and O&G royalties. Everything.